Monday, 6 October 2014

This post has absolutely nothing at all to do with my college course but just 'stuff' I was trying out for the sake of just trying it. Kept my mind occupied through some pretty dark times. But, they were also 'seeing' excercises! The painting above is of David Draiman the lead singer with the band Disturbed! REALLY pleased with the way this turned out. The image below is the painting along with the reference photo....I really wish I could find out details of who actually took the photo so i can give them credit for it but sometimes it can be really difficult to get the proper details. So please accept my apologies for 'borrowing' your image but rest assured my painting of it is NOT for sale!

I traced down the outlines and then spent the day just painting !! I used a digital frame for the finished image as this is in my sketchbook!

This painting below is of Joe Anao'i or WWE Wrestling star Roman Reigns. I used the same process as above and just painted.

Once again apologies to the photographer for using their image...but again these paintings are not for sale and are just my personal experiments in my sketchbook.

And last but certainly not least...here's one of my favourite footballer....Pablo Zabaleta who plays for Manxhester City Football Club.
Not very pleased with the background in this but hey, who cares..it's Pablo Zabaleta so that's all that matters!! ;)

As I said earlier, nothing to do with college just my personal 'stuff'.

Saturday, 4 October 2014

Wow...my posts are like the buses, wait for ages and then two come along at once lol.

Anyway I digress, the photos above are something we have been working on over the past two weeks in class. Techniques for mixed media. It was basically an excercise on not being scared! This was basically a 'go for it' piece. No theme , just playing with materials and effects.
Used lots of different things in this. Most of which i have used previously and some i haven't.
Plaster of Paris, hot glue, gummed tape, image transfer, sequin waste, torn paper, acrylic paint and lots and lots and lots of pva glue!!
The bottom image is the result from the second weeks work and it looks a lot better and has pulled together really well. Really pleased with the randomness of it and also the colours. Didn't actually realise i was working with a limited colour palette until it was pointed out to me.
Thoroughly enjoyed working on this and can't wait to get started work on the project using these techniques. Just hope I can follow the brief ok.

Well, well well, it has been WAY too long since I have blogged. I should be ashamed for neglecting my poor wee blog AND all my wonderful readers (that's if you still remember me)!
But I DO have an excuse....You see I have managed to get myself onto an HND Contemporary Art Practice course at college. It is a two year full time course so needless to say i just don't have the same time on my hands now. Started back in September and so far have been totally inundated with homework!! But it is all worth it really because it does help.
Lots of interesting 'stuff' going on but i won't bore you too much with all the details.
However I WILL post pictures of projects i will be working on and probably other 'stuff' that i have done in class, some of which i haven't tried before.
My next post will be about the mixed media class project we are currently working on so watch this space!!

Saturday, 21 June 2014

My quirky side kicked in for piece and I love it!! Very different and just plain fun!

This was done in a one inch deep box frame. First of all I randomly brushed over the background using Pèbèo Studio acrylics . Then painted the frame in black. Set it aside to dry while I gilded the little toy rubber lizard. Isn't he just cute!.I then painted in some black triangles around the inside edge of the box. I used the gilding outliner paste to draw zig zag lines down the sides of the frame and once that had dried I then used foil sheets to gild the lines. I painted the feet of the lizard and used it as a 'stamp' to give the footprints. The quote is done on two ice-lolly sticks which were painted in the same colours as the background. Stuck everything down and let it dry.
I then used the Pèbèo Crystal resin and mixed up enough to embed everything in resin.
A REALLY fun and quirky piece which has slight 'Tribal' feel to it. Really had fun with this and just let my quirky side come out on this one.

First of all I must apologise for this photograph. Mirrors and flash photography don't mix! Hence the piece of card in the middle.

Anyway, this was one of those inexpensive little mirrors from Ikea. A very plain wooden frame crying out for some altering.
I used Pèbèo Studio Acrylics for the background which was just randomly brushed on. I then used the Studio texture paste 'White Sand' and stencilled through a home made stencil. While this was drying I gilded some little chipboard frames with copper gilding flakes and stuck them down to the corner of the frame. I used some Pèbèo Fantasy Moon and Fantasy Prisme paints and poured them into the mini frames. While that set aside drying I used the same paint on the little tiles, which are actually the insides of the mini frames. Once they were fully dry I then painted the edges of the tiles with some copper colour paint from my stash to tone them in with the frames on the bottom corner.
I used Pèbèo Studio acrylics in metallic colours to match the background and randomly brushed over the texture paste to tone in the swirls and also just randomly brushed the rest of the background to finish it off.

Now this project I DID have fun with! Took me nearly three days but there is a LOT of work involved.

The background was done using Pèbèo Studio Acrylic randomly brushed over the 20x8" canvas. While it was drying I set about making and gilding the flowers.
These were done using a rubber stamp. I stamped out the flower ten times then cut them out. I then brushed over the gilding glue and set them aside to dry, meanwhile, I cut the cogs and gearwheels and the weathered clock using my Bigshot machine. I then brushed on some gilding glue and set these aside to dry. Now the flowers are dry I just popped then into my box of gilding flakes. Brushed off the excess and then gave them a coat of Terracotta and Green alcohol inks as I wanted to give them a 'rusty' look. I just did the same with cogs.
I constructed all the flowers ( there is a good tutorial for this over on The Artistic Stamper blog by the way). Glued them down with a hot glue gun and used glass beads for the centres. The cogs, gearwheels and clock are stuck down with p.v.a. glue.
I used Pèbèo Fantasy Moon and Fantasy Prisme paints for the dribbles. Love the effects of these two paints when the mix together.

The quote was done in gold marker pen on a scrap piece of card which was sprayed with Copper Cosmic Shimmer. I used dome copper paint and gold paint from my own stash to stencil through dome sequin waste randomly over the rest of the painting and then just gave a light spray of the Cooper Cosmic Shimmer to finish.

REALLY pleased with the way this turned and it is one of my favourite pieces.

Friday, 20 June 2014

Hello again, been having another play with some more Pèbèo products and came up with this.
Done on a canvas board usinf Pèbèo Studio acrylic paint for the background along with a couple of metalic colours. After it was dry I then used some of the Gold outliner paste and drew some lines and uneven circles. When that was dry I added some Pèbèo Fantasy Moon and Fantasy Prisme paints to the inside of the circles. Set it aside to dry and this was how it ended up looking. Quite like the way it turned out actually. Not quite brilliant but not too bad...just right.

Sunday, 15 June 2014

Hello everyone, it has been a wee while since I last blogged and as usual it is just life and other stuff getting in the way.

I was lucky enough to receive a mahoosive box of goodies from Pèbèo recently and was asked to "create stuff" using their products. I was thrilled to bit but also very nervous as well because I haven't used their products before. So I set about watching some online videos and tutorials to give me an idea of what I could and couldn't do.

Didnt take me long to come up with ideas though and the photo above is my first project.
In the box were these little wooden frames and I wasn't really sure what I was going to do with the so I just poured in some Fantasy Moon and Some Prisme paints. Left it to dry overnight to see what I had as an end result and thought I would work from there. I LOVE these paints!! What a gorgeous result!!

Just adore the way these paints interact with each other while drying! I then set about decorating the frames. Tried to theme it to match the colours inside. The orange one looked like 'fire' so I went with that. I randomly applied some modelling paste to the frame and when it was dry I roughly mixed some of the Pèbèo Studio acrylics and roughly painted to suit.

I decided to go with an 'ice' theme for the other one and used the Studio acrylics White Sand texture gel. I thought itvlooked like snow when it was dry but I just coloured it using the acrylic paints again.
I was really plwasantly surprised with thexway this duo came together and love the way they have turned out. These wee frames have little magnets embedded in the back and would really sweet fridge ornaments or be stuck to anything metal for that matter.

Friday, 6 June 2014

Many apologies yet again for my lack of blogging and neglecting you all but life just seems to be getting in the way at the moment.

Anyway, I did however manage to make a little time for myself and do some creating. It took two days in fact but it was loads of fun to watch this piece develop!

20 x 8 inch mixed media canvas. Many apologies for the quality of the photo though as it was taken on my mobile phone.

I didn't really have a plan with this piece so i just "went with it" so to speak. I decided to dig into my scrapbook paper stash and use some of it. I have way too many packs and they are beginning to overtake my cupboard spaces!
So, I grabbed a couple of floral and patterned packs and tore up a few sheets with a similar colour scheme and proceeded to 'wallpaper' my canvas. I wasn't bothered about bubbles o ceases because I always feel it adds a bit of texture! Once it was dry i sanded the whole thing down to take some of the shine from the glue off as it was P.V.A I used. gave it a dusting off then a whitewash of watered down gesso. I mixed up some pale pink acrylic paint and some pale green and then just randomly brushed that over in laces on the background. Again when dry, I sanded it down and then added the next layer. This was done by using modelling paste through a handmade stencil. Set the whole aside to dry and went for a cup of coffee!

Coffee break over - modelling paste dry - time for colour! I dry brushed over the swirls with some pale green acrylic paint and let dry. Once this was dry I set about with some background stamping using a random mixture stamps from my stash. some of the stamping is a little subtle and doesn't really show up in the photo but trust me, it IS there!

At this point I am still feeling it is looking a little 'flat' so decided to see if I could highlight some of the details in the background papers. The word 'flower' was barely visible so I drew round what I could see of it and painted it using Twinkling H20's. Thought I'd be smart and dry it with the heat gun to hurry it up a little and lo'n'behold it started to blister and bubble! Wow! I liked that so left it! I highlighted it with a white Sakura gel pen, along with the details on the swirls.

Now onto the flowers! Theses were made using an outline flower stamp. I stamped some large petals onto the back of some of the patterned paper I used for the background, same thing for the small petals. Also did two styles of leaves and then spent time cutting them all out. I edged the petals and leaves with some distress inks to finish them off a little. Once they were all constructed I laid them out on my canvas to give me an idea of where I wanted them placed or where I felt they looked right, then proceeded to finish off the details with some more stamping, and also some sequin waste stencilling!
Flowers are all glued down with a hot glue gun and the centres were added using some glitter glue, but there is a big space...hmmm...what to do... Ah a Butterfly! Stamped onto the back of some patterned paper and cut it out, stuck it down with a hot glue gun and some dressmakers pins for the antennae, but I might just see if I can a smaller layer to this as I am not really too keen on the way it looks, i may just add some white pen details to it instead.

Anyway, I added a quote to a pack of mini wooden plaques I bout for under a quid at a high street store, tied on some string and then glued them down with a hot glue gun.

Finished off the edges a little better to neaten the whole thing up and then stepped back. Yup! It's finished, no more fiddling!!

REALLY pleased with this piece seeing as it was a 'totally go for it' piece! Love when this happens as it is can be a nice surprise if it turn out the way you see it when putting it together!

Friday, 11 April 2014

Just a quick post of a little A4 canvas I worked on a wee while ago. Absolutely adored that quote so worked around it. The background is done in acrylics and the quote, flower and star are drawn on old book pages and coloured with Inktense pencils.
Quite pleased with the way this turned out actually.

Thursday, 10 April 2014

Wow!! Can't believe it has been THAT long since I last blogged!! A whole six months!! Oh my....many many apologies for neglecting you all and being such a bad blogger.

I guess sometimes life stuff just gets in the way. Been struggling with such stuff over these last six months so not really felt too much like blogging to be honest.

Anyway, thought I'd better show face and maybe post a picture or two of things I have tried to work on.

The above piece is a 20x16 mixed media collage on canvas done using lots of diffèrent techniques and various odds and sods I had lying around in my stash along with some lovely images which were cut from an old magazine.
Don't normally go with these colours but just thought they matched the big photo perfectly.

Thanks for dropping by and once again many apologies for being AWOL. Hopefully it won't be THAT long before I blog again!

About Me

Single parent to a grown up son. Just finished HND Diploma in Contemporary Art Practice at my local college.
Love all the grungy style. Anything to alter and I'm in heaven! Also love mixed media as I love experimenting and playing around with different products.
Am a mad keen Iron Maiden fan too so a bit of a metalhead and old school rocker.